The Awkward Moments of a Teenage Bird Kid
by ArdentheVampire
Summary: "I've never been a mushy person, but I will honestly admit that I'm a marshmellow when it comes to you. I...I love you"  OCxIggy
1. Chapter 1: Lemonade

**YAY NEW STORY. I have three I need to work on but I don't even know if I should x_x Cause NO ONE EVER REVIEWSSS. Well maybe this time it shall be different, cause this is Maximum Ride instead of Harry Potter. Anywho, Hope you enjoy :3**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the story, only Jade! And if I did, Fang would be in my closet :3 So its probably a good thing actually .**

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><p>You know the expression 'When life gives you lemons, make lemonade'? Next question; how many of you have actually used it?<p>

Right.

So why has it been brought up? Maybe its the fact that I really want lemonade right now, or the fact that I'm about to turn my 'lemons' into lemonade. That is if lemons actually mean 14 years of living in a cage, being experimented on and put through hell by idiotic scientists, and the small fact that I have WINGS.

Yep. I am an avian-American! Probably not the first, probably not the last. Special, right? Er... kind of. I mean, I do still have wings.

Can I fly? Not sure. But hoping so.

Back on track though, I'm about to turn my 'lemons' into lemonade. Or about to use my telekinesis to open my cage (hopefully).

I'm sure your laughing about now, thinking "Oh ha ha ha! Telekinesis, right!" Wrong. For some reasons, while said scientists (see above rant) were giving me injections one fine day around two years ago, they somehow managed to alter my brain, and let me move things with my mind. They don't know this, and that's a good thing.

I heard the echoing sound of boots against concrete, and the unmistakable slam of a door. I counted to three before scooting up towards the front of my cage, which happened to actually be a dog crate. I'd be less surprised if they had put me in a bird cage. Thinking about it made me slightly miss my jail cell back at the Institution, mainly because it was three times the size of this thing.

I peeked through the bars and looked at the lock, narrowing my eyes and willing the bolt to slide out.

"_Come on, come on!_" I hissed, the gave a silent, "Hooray!" as the bolt fell to the ground, leaving the cage door slightly opened.

Pushing against it, I watched cautiously as it swung forward with a soft creaking sound. Listening intently for signs of lab-geeks, I stepped down to the hard ground. I stumbled a bit as I stood up, but imma go ahead and blame that on the fact that I hadn't left my cage for over 18 hours. One gets a little stiff after that.

I sighed as my wings stretched out. They were a beautiful speckled mahogany, with auburn secondaries and a few scattered shades of dark brown. Feeling the muscles move I hesitantly beat them in a flying motion, which seemed awkward. Eh, I'd work on it.

I crept silently, or as silently as possible, towards the staircase. I knew they had locked the doors and concentrated on moving the locks open. I closed my eyes and felt my eyebrows crumple in concentration until I heard a click. I will never openly admit this, but I did fist pump. Just once. Really.

I slipped through the heavy doors and ran up the staircase, which of course, led to_ another_ staircase. Can they invest in an elevator? No, of course not.

Panting, I came to my final obstacle; another door! Surprised? Didn't think so. Using my awesome mutant powers (God I sound so corny) to unlock the door, that then I pushed open. Apparently someone forgot to mention something on the "How to escape the School without getting chased by Erasers" memo. Which was that a very loud alarm went off when the door to the roof was opened.

I cursed colorfully before running out onto the platform and slamming the door behind me. Wasting no time, I went to the ledge as soon as it burst back open.

"_Damn_ it!" I spun around to see half-morphed Erasers, and quickly glanced back to the ledge.

I had never flown before. I didn't know if I could. I was probably four stories up, and if I couldn't I'd be splatter art on the ground. How's that for imagery, huh? No highfive? Tough crowd.

But it'd be quicker then death-by-half-canine.

"Screw it!" I jumped, and opened my wings.

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><p><strong>CLIFFHANGER! Even though Im writing the next chapter... now. Im thinkign if I make the chapters shorter I can upload faster :3<strong>

**PLEASE REVIEW. REVIEW MY STORY AND ILL REVIEW ONE OF YOURS!**

**Think of the bird-kids!**


	2. Chapter 2: Running into Clouds

**YAY FAST UPDATE! Im very happy with this :3 If Max is slightly out of character, I'm sorry, btu I don't see her getting along well with Jade ^^**

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><p>Apparently, a lot can happen in 20 seconds.<p>

You can plummet to the ground like a rock

Learn how to fly and

Fly away from your personal hell

Who knew?

After getting up into the air, and getting familiar with the beating of the wings, flying seemed natural. I headed the only way I could think of;_ away_.

Of course, away wasn't really distinct, so I flew north. I don't know how I knew which way north was, but I knew.

Note to self: after three hours of flying at around 180 miles per hour with no breaks north, one generally goes pretty far. And gets pretty dang tired.

But it wasn't like I could stop, since the newly improved (sort of) Erasers had wings, I wasn't safe until I was far, far away! In Neverland. Which I don't really know what it is, but one of the lab-geeks mentioned it once.

Disney classics are lost on a mutant who's never watched TV.

Have you ever gone hang-gliding over a really high place? If you have, awesome. If not, you should. My point is, hang-gliding is slightly, well not even remotely close to flying, but as close as you normal people can get to flying without a plane.

The wind ruffling your hair, the feel of your wings adjusting slightly to your every whim, the undeniable sense of freedom; it was so amazing, so perfect; I never wanted the feeling to end. But most things do anyway.

Somewhere around northern California I think, is when I got the amazing idea to fly through a cloud, thinking they look all marshmellowy and puffy and fun. Sorry to burst your bubble's kids, but clouds aren't cotton candy, or sugar, or fluffy little pillows. There wet. Really, really, really cold and really, really wet. And if the sudden feeling of being sopping wet and freezing isn't enough, try running into something.

Seriously, how do you run into something _in the sky_? I mean, come _on!_ On impact I had stopped flapping, and dropped around twenty feet.

"What the..." I was about to look up to see what I had hit, but only saw a small dog plummeting down past me. Hell!

Yes, I may be a hybrid mutant freak, but I was an animal loving hybrid mutant freak, and that's the only reason I dive bombed for the little thing.

For those of you who didn't know, going straight down from a thousand feet in the air makes you go reaaaaaally fast. On the bright side, I ended up below the dog and caught it in my arms.

"Gotcha!" I crooned, and mentally went _awww_ when I saw that the dog was crying.

"I thought I was going to die!" It cried. Wait... talking dog? I blinked rapidly. Oh well, nothing can surprise me anymore. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The dog, which upon closer inspection appeared to be a Scottie, kept repeating.

"Its alright!" I replied, already flying back up to where I fell, not really knowing what to expect, but what I did see made me stop in my tracks (aka hover).

When I said nothing can surprise me anymore, I lied. Cause I was a hell-of-a-lot surprised right now.

There was six, yes six bird kids. A mocha skinned girl, a thin blonde girl, a goth-y guy, a small blonde haired, blue eyed boy, and a strawberry blonde haired boy who I guessed to be the one I ran into. And yes, he was cute. Really cute. The group of them were eyeing me warily, and I was about to do something (fly away, beg for mercy, something along those lines), when I noticed a small girl behind the goth-y guy, and my eyes widened.

"Angel?" I asked, shocked. I hadn't seen the little girl since about a month ago at the school, her crate was next to mine before she escaped. I was completely baffled, I always believed that once someone left, you never saw them again, and that's just how it worked. Apparently not.

"Jade?" Replied the white-winged child, confused. The thin blonde girl appeared to be the leader and narrowed her eyes at me a bit.

"Who are you?" She asked in a slightly stuck up tone, or that's how it sounded to me.

"Jade. If you couldn't tell by Angel saying 'Jade' just now." I replied sarcastically over the dogs constant thanks.

"And what are you doing here?" She pressed on. I had to suppress a smile as I noticed that she seemed to be trying not to bite my head off.

"Well, I just saved your dog (your welcome by the way), and ran into blondie. Escaped from a bunch of lab-geeks, and Erasers. The usual." I commented in an offhand tone. Said blondie (I/E Iggy) I ran into looked at me but his eyes seemed foggy and didn't mean mine exactly. Was...he blind?

"Yes." Chirped Angel. Wait.. had I been talking out loud? Embarrassing. I flushed lightly.

_No, I can read minds. _The same voice replied, but this time in my head.

"Oh." Well... I didn't know how to respond to that.

"You escaped from the School?" Asked goth-guy, he sounded curious.

"Yeah. And you guys are?"

Lead chick crossed her arms. "I'm Max. That's Fang," She gestured towards goth-guy, "That's Gazzy," She pointed at the cherub looking boy, "That's Nudge," The mocha skinned girl waved. "And that's Iggy." Finally she glanced at the blondie, and lightly touched his hand. I cocked my head a bit. Was that code?

"And you already seem to know Angel." Leader chick, Max, glanced at Angel to explain.

"Our crates were by each other when they kidnapped me. She's another bird kid like us, and she's the same age as you, Iggy, and Fang."

This seemed to sound okay to Max, because she didn't reply.

Where are you staying? I heard the voice of Angel say in my mind.

Okay, was I supposed to think back? _Erm... I didn't think that far. I don't even know how I'm supposed to survive to be honest..._

_Maybe you can stay with us?_

My eyes widened._ Really? Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!_

Angel glanced at Max and they seemed to be having a silent conversation between them. Finally Angel made puppy dog eyes,and Max sighed.

"Fine. Jade, you can travel with the flock... for now." I smiled brightly.

"Thank you!"

I couldn't help but wonder where this would lead me.

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><p><strong>Review please? :3<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: A Guide to Self Discovery

**I'm getting so many reviews o.o Thanks for everyone who favorited the story! Gah I wanna hug you and squeeze you and give you cookies! But since I can't cook and have no clue where you are, I'll just give you a chapter.**

**Disclamer: I only own de la Jade. And if I owned the series, FANG. WOULDNT. LEAVE.**

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><p>It took another hour to get to where the "Flock" was headed. I had mainly stuck behind them, I didn't really believe that Max trusted me. Gazzy and Nudge didn't seem to mind me, Angel either. From what I saw, Fang would do anything Max did. I wonder if they know how obviously in love they are.<p>

I heard Angel giggle as I thought this.

I angled my wings differently so I went down farther, and glanced forward, seeing Iggy. I found him interesting. He was blind from what Angel said, but the way he acted I never would have guessed.

With his strawberry-blonde hair, he reminded me of... no. I stopped the thought before I could finish it. I didn't need any more pain, no matter how unintentional.

While thinking about random things, I nearly missed Max going down for a landing. I moved my wings again, and followed the other bird kids.

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><p>Apparently they actually didn't have a destination. Go figure. We ended up landing for the night in some State Park. This may sound cliché, but yes, they wanted me to sleep in the tree.<p>

I've lived in a cage all my life. And I've eaten nothing but oatmeal, some kinds of fruit, and some kinds of meat that whole time if I was even fed, so I'm not picky. But I refused to sleep in a tree, because

A.) If I just broke out of that hell hole I want space to move and

B.) I will end up falling out and killing myself.

So there you have it. Hybrid mutant freak philosophy in a nutshell.

In the end I, teehee, made a nest on the ground. Get it? Nest? Okay, no need to boo.

I think I'm starting to loose it.

Anywho, while the rest of my hybrid buddies got all cozy in a really tall maple tree, I layed down on a rock by an open creek. I had piled up grass and leaves and flowers to make a semi-soft bed. But it was still a rock.

With the unfamiliar sound of rushing water whispering into my ears, I fell asleep quickly.

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><p>That night, I had a strange dream. Brown eyes glanced down at me through the door of a cage, smiling. Whispering sweet words, I closed my eyes. Red. The one friend I had had my whole life, the one comforting thing I knew. A freak like me, a part cat part human hybrid.<p>

He was funny and sweet and brilliant.

And then the dream shifted. I huddled in the back of my cage, hand clapped over my ears, hearing the deep cries of agony from the room next to mine.

The operating room.

"Make it stop, make it stop." I whispered, tears trailing down my face as I listened to the agonized yells of the person I loved. I sat like that for what seemed like a lifetime, before I watched the lab-geek who had taken Red walk out.

His hands were bloody. And Red never came back.

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><p>"No!" I gasped, eyes snapping open. I was breathing heavily and disoriented. What... where was I?<p>

I blinked rapidly before realizing that I wasn't at the School, I had escaped. I was okay. There wasn't a lab-geek with sadistic ideals or injections that made me throw up.

I was fine.

It took a few minutes to calm down and properly block the dream from my mind. I sat up and stretched out my wings, enjoying the feeling, before flying up to the tree the other bird kids were sleeping in.

I made sure to be quiet, and noticed they were all still asleep, except for one that wasn't there.

Iggy.

My eyebrows crumpled. Where was he? Should I go look for him? What if he's hurt? What... what the hell was I doing?

I shook my head and landed. No need to worry about it. It's not like he's family or even part of my flock (since, y'know, I don't _have_ one.)

I'm going to pretend I wasn't wistful at the thought, but I was. No flock-o-for-mutant-bird-kid-o.

The sun had risen more by the time the others started moving. I had already begun to pay more attention to them, remembering things they did out of habit.

Knowing the enemy helps you defeat the enemy. Or that's what I go by. Even if they weren't my enemy (hopefully... cause that'd suck. A lot.)

Gazzy always stuck by Iggy (who had returned sometime), and had a rapt obsession with fire and bombs. Iggy halted and payed close attention to any sound. Nudge never stopped talking and was easily distracted by things such as fashion and hair (She pointed out that I was still wearing the plain gray t-shirt and sweats garb from the School, no shoes.), and Angel never seemed to agree with Max. She was childish, but thought in a way very different from the others. She always thought she knew best. Max seemed to have a very high opinion of herself. She was a good fighter, and constantly wary. I doubted that she could know me for years and trust me even then. Fang was silent, dark, and mysterious, but I noticed how his eyes watched his flock, especially Max. The dog I saved, apparently named Total, was very dramatic.

How was that for only knowing these people for less then a day?

I also figured out that Max had a "Voice," and was supposed to save the world. Told you she had a high opinion of herself.

But, even though they said that, no one had a plan. I can't really argue, they did take me under there wing, no pun intended. I wonder how long it would be before I was left alone.

We ended up flying into Dallas, Texas, and getting a motel room while Max figured out a plan. Nudge and Angel had convinced there all-knowing-leader to let them go shop if Iggy and Gazzy went too, and I came with them. But we encountered a problem.

I was dirty, my auburn curls snarled and knotted, looking almost brown with dirt. I had no shoes, and my wings were completely visible. How to fix this problem?

Taking a shower! Yay for personal hygiene! After I took a shower Nudge went and bought me an outfit. Or... I think she bought it.

Have you ever gone a long time without looking in the mirror, and when you do your like what the hell? Who's that?

That's what I felt as I looked at myself. My curls were fluffy and shiny, my skin creamy pale with a cute freckle on the side of my nose. My lips weren't chapped (which was freaky) and the outfit in itself made a huge difference.

According to the mocha skinned fashion guru it was dark artificially ripped skinny jeans, a graphic tee along with a flattering black jacket to hide my wings, and knee-high black Chuck Taylor's. Yes, I didn't understand a word of that, but it sounded cool.

Another thing I figured out today was that I was built slightly different then the rest of the bird kid females. While they were still light and lean, they were very tall and straight. I was smaller, more busty and curvy.

Wanna know how I figured this out? When Nudge said, and I quote, "Wow your boobs are big!" In front of, you guessed it, everyone! Max burst out laughing, Angel looked confused, Gazzy stared at my chest, Fang looked away, embarrassed, and Iggy's eyebrows were raised so high they disappeared in his hair.

Somehow, I can't see this ending well.

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><p><strong>I just love the ending! Can't you picture Nudge accidently blurting that out? Buahahaha.<strong>

**This chapter is to introduce Jade more. Her appearence, past, habits, etc. Also the beginning of her interest in iggy ;)**

**Please review :3**


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